Fade in. The girl is lying in a bed, and an old
man stands nearby. 1-3 "Awakening" plays.

「ここは…

: Where am I...?

GIRL: Where am I...?

老人「ほう…
あやつりの輪が外れたばかりだと
いうのに…

Old Man: Oh...?
So soon after the manipulation
band came off you...

OLD MAN: Whoa!
And I only just removed the crown!

It's unclear what exactly the object is, other
than that it's ring-shaped. The kanji 輪, which is all the text gives us to go on here,
is used in words for all kinds of ring-shaped jewelry, from finger rings and bracelets
to chokers and nose rings, and other more general types of ring-shaped objects
from rubber bands to landing gear. Going by the appearance, considering what
would be practical, and remembering that Wedge mentioned her head, it's most
likely a circlet of some kind.

「頭が…いたい……

: My head... hurts...

GIRL: ...head...hurts...

老人「無理をするな。
これは、あやつりの輪。
これをつけられればその者の思考は
止まり、人の意のままに動くように
なる。

Old Man: Don't push yourself too hard.
This is a manipulation band.
Having one of these on put you
halts your thoughts, leaving you
subject to the will of others.

OLD MAN: Easy! This is a Slave Crown. The others had complete control
over you while you were wearing it.

GIRL: I can't remember a thing...
OLD MAN: Don't worry.
It'll all come back to you...in time, that is.

「……

: ......

.........

She shakes her head, probably in confusion.

At this point, everything fades to black, except the girl, who
shifts to center screen. The game gives the following brief description of her,
then allows the player to change her name if desired. The same sort of thing
happens with most playable characters.

帝国にあやつられていた
生まれながらに魔導の力を持つ
謎の少女……

A mysterious girl
born with the power of sorcery
who was controlled by the Empire...

A mysterious young woman,
controlled by the Empire, and
born with the gift of magic......

「わたし…
名前は…{ティナ}…
老人「ほう…
強い精神力を持っておる。

: I...
my name is... {Tina}...
Old Man: Oh...?
Strong will you have there.

Note that names in the English version
are by default ALL CAPS. This was probably done to match all the
other names and identifiers that are given in ALL CAPS before
characters' lines (like OLD MAN), but it's not aesthetically pleasing
to see an ALL-CAPS name in the middle of a normal-case sentence.
Ironically, fixed names (the ones the player can't change)
do appear in normal case in the middle of sentences.
So why didn't they just make everything normal case all the time?
I hardly think it would have ruined the game to identify a speaker
as Old Man instead of OLD MAN. A poor decision overall in my
opinion, but fortunately not one that damages the meaning.

Meanwhile, guards with dogs come up
to the house from outside.

「ここを開けろ！
「魔導アーマーに乗っていた娘を
出せ！

: Open up!
: Hand over the girl who was
riding Sorcerous Armor!

SOLDIER: Open up!
Give us back the girl and the Empire's Magitek Armor!!

「ここを開けるんだ！
「娘をだせ！
「そいつは帝国の手先だぞ！！

: Open up!
: Hand over the girl!
: She's with the Empire!!

SOLDIER: Open this door!
We want that girl!
She's an officer of the Empire!

Here we see the sort of textbox that led to
my including a colon at the beginning of the lines with 「 in the JP
version that have unidentified speakers. Note that it's clear in the
original that at least two people are speaking in each block of
text, but this is completely lost in the NA version. It doesn't make
much of a difference here, but leaving out the differentiation
elsewhere often confuses who says what where it's more
meaningful, typically leading to misattribution (like who it was
that used to have a pet turtle)
or muddled dialog that's difficult to parse at all.

For a while, I put such text in quotation
marks, but decided that should be reserved for generic party
member lines, denoted with the 『 mark in Japanese. My use
of a colon for a lone 「 parallels the standard use of, to give an
example, "Old Man:" for 老人「 in Japanese.

{ﾃｨﾅ}「帝国…？
魔導アーマー…？

{Tina}: Empire...?
Sorcerous Armor...?

{TERRA}: Empire...?
Magitek Armor...?

老人「とにかくここを出るんじゃ。
わしが説明してもやつらは
聞かんじゃろう。

Old Man: Get out of here for now.
I doubt they'll listen even if I
explain things to them.

OLD MAN: Look,
I have to get you out of here!
I don't have time to explain!

老人「こっちじゃ！

Old Man: Over here!

OLD MAN: Over here!

老人「裏の炭坑から逃げられるはず。
ここは、わしがくいとめる。
さあ、早く！

Old Man: You should be able to escape
the back way through the coal mines.
I'll stall them here. Now hurry!

OLD MAN: Make your way out through the mines!
I'll keep these brutes occupied!

Two Sleeping Bags are added to your
inventory at this point, and the clock, like many others, contains
an Elixir for no apparent reason.

Tina leaves through the back door. "The
Mines of Narshe" plays. Some guards spot her going across
a walkway.

「あそこにいるぞ！

: She's over there!

She's up there!

Skip the treasures in the mines for now.
If unopened, the chests will contain markedly better items...
much later.

Tina fights alone and only lightly armed
in the mines, but she's no pushover and has little difficulty until guards
rush in from several directions and corner her.

「いたぞ！

: Found her!

Got her!

Actually, it's literally "[She] was [here]",
but that's awkward at best in English. Just one of those Japanese idioms.

The floor beneath Tina caves in, and she loses consciousness
soon after falling.

"Cefca" is, apparently, the
official JP version spelling, though I've never seen it anywhere
in the game itself. Those are hard 'c's, so it is
pronounced "Kefka", as it's spelled in the NA
version.

I can't say I don't like the way the NA
version makes him sound insane right away... actually, I'm
thinking the original may do the same; it at least makes him
sound cocky. Not just anyone will refer to himself with the
incredibly arrogant term 俺様 (ore-sama).
Incidentally, he's infamous for his insane laughter. The game
even has an insane laughing sound effect for him.

The following line is in the ROM and fits here,
but isn't used in either version.

{ﾃｨﾅ}「いやーやめて！！

{Tina}: No, stop it!!

{TERRA}: No! Get away from me!

Cut to a battlefield.
Tina, riding a mech,
vaporizes a Soldier
effortlessly.

ケフカ
「ヒッヒッヒッ そうだ！
全てを焼きはらうのだ！

Cefca:
Hee, hee, hee, yes!
Burn everything to ashes!

KEFKA:
Uwee, hee, hee! Good!
Burn up everything!

Cut to what looks like a rallying speech that
wouldn't be out of place in Nazi Germany. An important-looking man stands in
front of a crowd. Behind him, an unidentified man and woman, along with with
Cefca, lead cheers. Tina, standing next to a mech, looks on passively.

ｶﾞｽﾄﾗ「わがガストラ帝国は魔導の力を
復活させた！
選ばれた者のみが使うことのできる
神聖な力だ…

Gastra: My Gastra Empire has
revived the power of sorcery!
It is a divine power that only
the chosen ones can use...

GESTAHL: We stand on the brink of a major breakthrough!
In the days to come, we'll witness a total revival of magic!
GESTAHL: It is our destiny, and ours alone, to take this
mystic force and claim what is rightfully ours!

Some interesting changes here.
ガストラ (GASUTORA)
doesn't much resemble "Gestahl".
The original indicates that his "major breakthrough"
has already happened, not that it will soon occur, and there are
also changes to several other nuances.

The following line comes here in the ROM,
but isn't used in either version. Heck, Cid doesn't even appear
in the scene.